Washing cylinder door construction



Jan. 8, 1935. B. I INDBERG WASHING CYLINDER DOOR CONSTRUCTION Filed'July11, 1933 NN Y@ m .l \m QN Q @NN n NN great Patented Jan. 8, 1935 UNITEDSTATES vPATENT OFFICE Y 1,987,513." l n v l* 7 fWAsHING CYLINDER DoonooNs'rRUo'rloN l Bernhard Lindberg,` Chicago, Ill. lApplication July 11,1933,l Serial No. 679,895

3 Claims.

In my prior application, Serial No. 517,716, filed February 24, 1931, Ihave disclosed a novel means, including an unloading shelf, to secureclosed the door of a washing machine cylinder. One of the difficultiesencountered in large washing machines is inkeeping the doors tight,since there is constant wear in hinge joints, catches, and elsewhere,that quickly produces sufficient looseness in the door to beobjectionable. Although the construction disclosed in my aforesaidvapplication is such that the degree of looseness that will arise isreduced to a minimum, and the time that must elapse before there is anyobjectionable looseness is greatly prolonged,yet,intime,

' some looseness will be found to exist. The object of the presentinvention is to make it possible easily and quickly, and withoutemploying skilled labor, or requiring renewal or replacement of parts,to restore one of my improved door constructions to its initial state oftightness, when closed, after wear has taken place. In the constructiondisclosed in my aforesaid application, the door is hinged at one end,extends entirely across the door opening, and is held down at the freeendby an unloading shelf that is swung'up over it and locked at its freeedge to the door proper by means of suitable catches. Therefore, theunloading shelf acts as a lever pivoted at one end, beyond the edge ofthe door, held to the door at its other end by a catch and bearing onthe door near the free end of the latter and toward the hinge axis ofthe unloading shelf. In accordance with my invention, I provide meansfor adjusting the door or the shelf along the line of contact so that,when wear takes place in the hinge joint of the unloading shelf and inthe catch, the slack or lost motion may be taken up by maintainingcontact between the unloading shelf and the door, even though thedistance between these two members increases as the unloading shelf ispushed outwardly to take up the looseness in the hinge joint and in thelatching mechanism. The simplest way of bringing this about is to placeon the door or on the unloading shelf a cleat which constitutes theactual pressure member through which the holding force of the unloadingshelf is transmitted to the door. By mounting this cleat in such a waythat it may be readily detached, liners or shims may be inserted underthe same as wear takes place, thereby increasing its effective thicknessor depth. I prefer to place the cleat on the unloading 'shelf in orderto utilize the same screws that fasten the hinge leaves to the shelf asfastenings for the cleat. Then, when wear takes place, all that needs tobe done is tol loosen the screws or bolts that fasten the hinge leaves,insert a shim or shims, and again tighten the screws or bolts.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterizedwill hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but,for a full understanding of my invention and of its objects andadvantages, reference maybe had to the following detailed descriptiontaken in connecticn with the accompanying drawing, wherein: Figure 1 isa section taken in a plane at right angles to' the axis of rotation of awashing machine cylinder, through one of the doors, only a fragment ofythe door'and of the cylinder being shown; Fig. 2 is a section on line2-2 of Fig. 1,

only the unloading shelf being shown; and Fig. 3 is a view similar toFig. l, only a fragment of the unloading shelf being shown, and therebeing linersor shims under the cleat or bead on the unloading shelf.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents a part of the cylinder. of a,large washing Vmachine,of usual o-r suitable construction. 2 is adoorgiving accessv tothe interior of vthe cylinder. I have shown only afragment ofthe door, which is of any suitable'type, hinged at one-endtothe cylinder, extending entirely across the door opening and havingits free end resting on an outwardly facing shoulder 3 in a sill or doorjamb 4 forming part of the cylinder. Hinged to the door jamb, so as tobe capable of swinging about an axis parallel with the free edge of thedoor is an unloading shelf 5v. The parts are so proportioned that, whenthe unloading shelf is swung upward, it overlaps the door, a suitablelatch device being provided to lock the unloading shelf in thisposition. In the arrangement shown, there is a latch device 6 fixed tothe outer side of the door and provided with a suitable dog 'I adaptedto enter an opening in the free edge of the unloading shelf.

It will be seen that, after continued use of the cylinder, wear willtake place on the under face of the latch dog 7, as viewed in Fig. 1,and there will also be wear on or around the hinge pintle 8. When thisoccurs, the unloading shelf will no longer press the free end of thedoor down against the shoulder 3, but will leave the door more or lessloose.

In accordance with my invention, the pressure of the unloading shelf istransmitted to the door through a cleat 9 extending parallel with and`near the free edge of the door. It is immaterial, in the broad sense,whether the cleat be on the door or on the unloading shelf, but I haveillustrated it as being on the latter. In the arrangement shown, thecleat is simply a little bar of metal at on one side where it engageswith the unloading shelf, and rounded or convex on the other side. Thiscleat may be secured to the unloading shelf by employing for the hingeleaf 10 fastening bolts 11 that are long enough to extend through thehinge leaf, the unloading shelf and the cleat. The cleat is preferablyprovided in its exposed convex side with countersunk openings 12 thathouse, the heads of the bolts, thereby bringing the nuts 13 on the outerside.

The parts are so proportioned that initially, when the door is closedand the unloading shelf swung into looking position, the Vcleat pressesfirmly on the door which in turn is pressed-firmly against thestationary shoulder 3. When wear takes place, as heretofore explained,the bolts are loosened, and one or more shims or liners, in the form ofthin plates 14, are inserted between the cleat and the unloading shelf,as shown in Fig. 3. lIf the shims or liners-simply have holes bored orpunched through the same to receive the bolts, the nuts must beunscrewed so that the bolts may be withdrawn withthe cleatand'permit theshim lorgshims to be slipped 4on thebolts before the latter are againinserted in the unloading shelf and hinge leaf. By providing a number ofshims, of the same or of different thicknesses, compensation for wearmay quickly and easily be made at any time. vSince each unloading shelfwill ordinarily have at least-two hinges, there will be no disturbanceof` the shelf through loosening the hinge bolts, one set at a time.

While I have illustrated and described with particularity onlyasinglepreferred form of my inventioml` do not desireito be limited tothe exactjstructuraldetails thus illustrated and described; but intendto cover all forms and arrangements vwhich come within the definitionsof my invention constituting the appended claims.

.I claim: l

,1. .Inzcombination, a receptaclehaving a door opening .provided at voneside with a seat' for the free `end of a door, a door member for saidopening adapted to rest on said seat at its free end when closed, asecond member hinged to saidreceptacle near said seat and adapted to beswung inwardly to overlie the adjacent part of the closed door member,means to secure the free end of said second member to the door member,and -an adjustable pressure device between and secured to one of thesaid members at a point between the hinge axis of said second member andsaid fastening means constituting the only points of contact betweensaid element and said door and adapted to compensate forlooseness in thehinge joint and inthe fastening means.

2. In combination, a receptacle having a door opening provided at oneside with a seat for the free end of a door member, a door member forsaid opening adapted to rest on said seat at its free endwhen closed, asecond member hinged to said ,receptacle near said seat and adapted tobe swung inwardly over the adjacent portion of the closed door,fastening means between the free end of said second member and the door,a transverse cleat on one of `said members betweenthe hinge axis of saidsecondmember and the fastening means in position to bear against theother 'member when the door member is closed andthe second member isswung inwardly upon the same, and means to adjust the cleat to vary thedistance to which it projects from the member on which it is mounted.

3. In combination, a washing machine cylinder having a door opening andofithe opening with a seat on whichma-y rest the free end of a door forsaid opening, a door for the opening adapted to rest at its free Aend onsaid seat when closed, an unloading shelf, a hinge-connecting one end ofsaid shelf to said cylinder-near said seat to permit the shelf to beswung infand overlie the free end of the door when vthelatte is closed,a. cleat on the iimer side of theishelf near its hingedend and adaptedto engage with the door when the door is closed and the shelf is swungin over the rsame,bolts passing through the hinge, the shelf and thecleat to hold the cleatvto the shelf, said bolts being long enoughtopermit shims to be inserted under the cleat, and Ameans to secure thefree end of the shelf to the door.

YBERNHARD LINDBERG.

provided at one side

